| Oooh I'm so behind! Sorry everyone, I'm working on it.
poetry girl,
The things that originally attracted me to Bates are different than what I have come to love most about it. I was drawn to the campus, the academic reputation, and the “feeling” when I visited. The students seemed to have a lot of energy and I was really impressed with the student panel on accepted students day (sorry about all the “students” in this sentence!). These things are all still important, but another thing that makes Bates special for me is the academic atmosphere. This is probably pretty personal, but it might help some of you understand what its like to be a student here. I have a tendency to be extremely stressed out and get really worked up about homework and tests. In the first few months of Bates, I started to realize that this just isn’t the way people cope with their schoolwork here. There is not a competitive atmosphere. Everyone works hard, but they are working for themselves, and not to compete against their classmates. I’ve found that I’ve gotten much better at handling stress over the course of the year.
I love that Bates fosters a close-knit community. Before coming, I was worried that it would feel to small and claustrophobic, but that isn’t the case at all. I want to meet as many of these amazing personalities that make up the student body as possible! Most people are connected through friends of friends, and by the end of the year you can usually tell if a non-Batesie is on campus. It’s great to walk through the quad and say “hi” to nearly every person you pass by. But at the same time, there are always students studying abroad or returning from studying abroad, the campus dynamic is always changing, and there are always plenty of people you don’t know (yet).
To touch upon the drinking/drugs culture, it is definitely a part of campus life, but I have plenty of friends who don’t drink and friends who live in chem-free dorms. I feel like the majority of people drink on some level and on certain occasions. There are certain dorms with a higher concentration of partiers, and we have designated low-chem and chem-free dorms. During the week, (when, of course, there is very little/no drinking going on) there are tons of nightly activities and things to keep you busy. However, on a Saturday night, unless you want to be cooped up studying in Pettengill, there really aren’t a lot of great alternatives. This doesn’t mean you can’t create your own. People who don’t want to drink can watch movies or just socialize without alcohol. I think this is the nature of almost every college campus. College kids drink, and you may even find yourself adopting this habit and enjoying it in moderation. Most Batesies are pretty smart about their drinking, and I think that’s the most important thing. |